When you get right down to the honest answer to that, yes.
When you look at it in the harsh light of day, if you just need to cut something, it's really awfully hard to say the modern one hand folder is not an efficient piece of equipment. It cuts, it's made out of very rugged materials, won't rust or even patina. You can flip out the blade in a hurry one handed, cut and close and pocket the knife in a blink of an eye. The modern one hand folder made out of modern materials like the better stainless steels and G10 or micarta, is a great knife.
But...they are like the Glock. The Glock pistol is a great, great pistol. It's rugged, extremely reliable, very easy to strip down and maintain, and is the perfect defense handgun for a cop or anyone interested in that use of firearms. Karen had one for a few years, and we shot the heck out of it. Once in a great while we had a failure to feed or eject, but it was rare. The Glock is about the best of the modern handguns. But it has the personality of a plastic Mattel toy. We got about as fond of it as one can get about a utility object like a washing machine, or say a toaster. In the end, neither Karen or I could bond with the gun, and it went down the road. But Karen still has the revolver her dad gave her when she was 18.
They say clothes make the man, and that may be true of even inanimate things as well. It's too bad that it does not come down to sheer science, but we humans also have a need for aesthetics. Looks matter to some of us, and feel as well. It's nice to know that in this plastic world of jelly bean look alike cars, and plastic handguns, the few of us that care, can if we want, get something made like it used to be. Nice old style materials that feel good, look good, and age well. Stag, bone, wood, well patined carbon steel, strike some chord in our souls that we respond to. The Glock shot great, but I still prefer an old Smith and Wesson revolver, or Marlin rifle with a real walnut stock, worn blueing, and needs some operator input to function well. Or a pocket knife that ages along with it's owner, and is a pleasure to just pick up in hand, let alone use.
In the end, the modern knife is like modern art, it's all in the eye of the beholder. I guess some artist can dribble paint on a canvas and call it art, but I still like to gaze at the old masters down at the National Gallery Of Art, who could paint a picture so real, that yo would not be surprised if the charter in the painting stepped down to shake your hand. Old pocket knives and revolvers have a look and feel that the modern stuff will never have, and to us, that matters. To others, it doesn't. I get a kick out of using something somebody from the 1880's would be at home with.
Carl.
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:thumbup: